巴拉特

分类： bharat

  • Swarm of locusts in Jaipur

    Swarm of locusts in Jaipur

    Swarm of locusts in Jaipur

    Swarms of the desert locust, which invaded India via Pakistan in April, have made their way to at least five states, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Desert locust move in large groups, called swarms, and can eat crops up to their own weight every day. When millions of locusts descend on a crop, they destroy everything.

    The desert locust is considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world and a single swarm covering one square kilometre can contain up to 80 million locusts. As per eyewitnesses, the swarm which entered India from Pakistan was about two to three kilometres long.

    In December 2019, when the parts of Gujarat were invaded by locust, they had destroyed crops spread over 25,000 hectares of land. This time, the attack is more widespread.

    Locust swarms entered India from Pakistan where they flew in from Iran last year. From Rajasthan, locusts entered Madhya Pradesh via Neemuch and have advanced to Ujjain and Dewas. The locust swarms have also made their way to Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Due to the proximity with Pakistan as well as rest of the affected areas, Punjab has also put its farmers on alert.

    Here’s a look at how states are battling with Locust Attack

    Rajasthan

    The desert locust attack has wiped out crops spread over 5,00,000 hectares in Rajasthan. The state has been battling with the locust menace for over three months now.

    In Western Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner and Barmer districts, large groups of pink swarming locusts destroyed lush green fields laden with Rabi crops this year. Farmers in Jodhpur, Jhalawar, Karauli and Bundi have reported large infestations.

    Several officials have been involved in clearing the locusts across the state. However, the problem seems far from over. Ministry of Agriculture officials are now spraying chemicals to neutralise the large swarm of locusts before they cause more destruction.

    Farmers in various parts of the state have been using different tactics, including desperate measures — beating steel utensils during late afternoons and evenings, playing loud music at night, creating wood-fire and running the tractor inside their fields — to scare away the locusts.

    However, none of the methods helped reduce the effect of menacing locusts on crops.

    Jaskaran Singh, a farmer who owns 25 bighas of land in Anupgarh, told India Today TV earlier this year that he has been devastated due to the attack by the swarming locusts on his crops of wheat and peas.

    “Had taken a loan of Rs 9,00,000 in my mother Amarjeet Kaur’s name, but now that the crop has been destroyed. I have no idea how the debt will be paid off,” he said.

    Jaskaran, whose eyed teared up while speaking, requested the government to compensate him for the loss.

  • Delhi Riots: Police arrests 2 Pinjra Tod women activists for organising anti-CAA protest in Jaffrabad

    Two members of the ‘Pinjra Tod’, a women rights group in Delhi, have been arrested in connection with the North East Delhi riots that took place earlier this year over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

    The organisation is accused of organising a sit-in by women protesters at the Jaffrabad Metro Station, which was a precursor to the Delhi riots which killed more than 50 people.

    Delhi Police has arrested Natasha and Devangana, two women associated with Pinjra Tod. It was found that a sudden mob of women gathered during the anti-CAA protest at the Jaffrabad Metro Station in North East Delhi on, following which the communal violence took place on February 23 and 24.

    Both women have been arrested by the North East District Police and will be questioned by the Crime Branch SIT and Delhi Police Special Cell.

    Both of them are scheduled to appear in court on Sunday.

    The Pinjra Tod organisation consists of several students of the University of Delhi as well as other higher educational institutions in the national capital. The women’s collective aims at making regulations for hostel and paying guest (PG) accommodation less restrictive for women students.

    The Delhi Police has repeatedly accused the Pinjra Tod of stoking the Delhi violence.

    Earlier this week, Delhi Police arrested Jamia Millia Islamia University student Asif Iqbal Tanha in connection with the February Delhi violence.

  • COVID-19 Forced World To Adopt Masks, Why Then Niqaab Is Problematic?

    The coronavirus pandemic has upended our lives in unthinkable ways. Governments worldwide, whether democratic or authoritarian, are taking unprecedented decisions to manage the pandemic raising concerns of government overreach, abuse, inaction and even denial. The notion of an active and engaged citizenry is getting weakened as the survival instinct has mutated the civic ethos so as to empower governments to choose for us what we would have never chosen for ourselves under normal circumstances. Is this process new or have democracies presumed choices earlier as well?

    History tells us that choices are relative. They have never been made available universally and exhaustively to all. Race, gender, language, ethnicity based differentiations among others have been a global trend. Yet, democracy has retained its fascination as the principle on which political life is organized or ought to be organized. What lies at the heart of this appeal is the freedom to make choices.

    The laissez faire position based on individual dignity is premised on the conviction that: “to be able to choose is a good that is independent of the wisdom of what is chosen.” Freedom of choice is not simply a political nicety; it is liberating and empowering; it enhances self-esteem enabling us to make choices that sculpt our identities thus giving us a certain sense of control over our lives, whether real or imaginary. How do democracies determine what choices are worth pursuing and what are worth denying? Can governments deny a choice under ordinary circumstances on grounds that such choice is offensive, alien, chauvinistic, a security threat, rather a slur on choice itself and then endorse or enforce something fairly similar under circumstances such as the present coronavirus pandemic?

    An example would perhaps, simplify matters. If we think through the act of face-covering, there are by and large two ways of screening one’s face. One is with face masks now being worn by men and women worldwide to combat infection against COVID-19 and the other is the Islamic face veil or the ‘niqaab’ worn by Muslim women for religious reasons. After discouraging citizens from wearing masks during the initial stages of the pandemic, even countries with anti-face covering legislations are encouraging face-cover in public places. Face masks, although considered alien to western culture, have been made mandatory in the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina; are being recommended in France, Italy, UK and the United States with citizens being encouraged to use either face masks, or scarves or bandanas in public places. In countries like China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan masks have had a ubiquitous presence.

    Unlike masks, which are slowly gaining acceptability to contain contagion, the face veil has had a rather chequered history. Seen as oppressive and discriminatory, the face veil has been an object of contempt, pity and bewilderment. Muslim women in the West, despite being ridiculed, fined, arrested and subjected to job losses for the act of covering their faces continue to do the same with educated and accomplished women taking such decisions even in the wake of controversial legislations imposing penalties for non-compliance.

    States such as Denmark, Bulgaria, Belgium and France among others have imposed bans on the face veil with several local bans elsewhere in the world. Despite prohibitions, what explains this choice? For most women the decision to veil is the outcome of a spiritual journey that has deepened their relationship with God sometimes even in the wake of family opposition. For some it is the most preferable act to please God and therefore a source of spiritual comfort. For still others, the face veil safeguards them from unwanted, malicious and unscrupulous gaze. Seen from these perspectives the choice is spiritually stimulating, psychologically empowering, socially liberating, enhancing mobility and the quality of their lives.